The Trouble With Geisha
by ice queen
Summary: When Gajeel and Lily are late coming back from a mission Levy decides to go after them.  Train rides, djinn monsters, and geisha abound! Gajeel/Levy, mentions of Lily/Shagotte -Complete-
1. Woman's Intuition

Welcome, all my loyal readers, and nice'ta'meetcha to the ones just joining us now. I hope I don't disappoint you! I'm pretty happy with this one, I hope you guys will be, as well^^ I tossed hosts at my favorite pair in The Tsundere, now I'm tossing geisha at them, just because jealousy is such fun. Ahh, I'm so cruel! But it's so entertaining to torment both Gajeel and Levy that I can't help myself!

Ah, and this isn't a sequel to "Magic Can Be..." sorry. This is another slightly AU one that struck me as fun.

Also, as usual, I don't own Fairy Tail, nor am I making any profit off of this. You've probably figured that out already, though.

* * *

**The Trouble With Geisha**

_Chapter 1: Woman's Intuition_

"Weren't... um..." Levy hesitated as she leaned against the bar, looking both ways for a moment before going on. "Weren't Gajeel and Lily supposed to be back by now?"

"Oh, they're pretty far away," Mirajane said. "And knowing them, they probably took a detour or two along the way home." She didn't seem very worried, so Levy nodded and turned back to her book. She had expected them to be back by now, though. Not that they had said anything to her before leaving, or anything, but still-

She frowned slightly, wondering why she was suddenly feeling worried. Was it female intuition? Or was she just paranoid that Gajeel had gotten himself killed somehow and nobody would know until he didn't come back for a year or two? No, he wouldn't die that easily! It had to be something else...

Levy frowned, still feeling a strange sense of unease. Maybe, she thought slowly, something she didn't want to know about was going on. Like maybe Gajeel was flirting with someone-not that she cared if he flirted-not like she could imagine him flirting with someone, she added, trying to picture Gajeel with a woman. He would probably terrify them!

But still, she thought, her vivid imagination kicking in, she could almost picture it. Gajeel and Lily, lounging on pillows as geisha filled their cups with sake-her hand tightened into a fist before she shook her head. There was no way something like that would happen!

Not if she had a say in it, she thought, standing. "I need to go," she told Mirajane, grabbing her book and racing out the door.

"They headed south!" Mirajane called. "By train. A small town called Gyolla!"

"Thanks, Mirajane-san, but-but I didn't need to know that!" she lied, now intent on going there. It was completely imagined, but the more she thought about it, the more real it seemed. She wanted to see if there could even be a woman bold enough to flirt with a guy like Gajeel!

* * *

"We just finished a job," Lily said as he looked up at his partner. They were walking through the desert, with no shade, or water to be seen. The only thing they had was the food in Gajeel's bag, which they were hoarding. "How did we wind up here, again?"

"Let it die," Gajeel muttered.

"You just had to try that card game, didn't you," Lily went on.

"It was a sure deal!" Gajeel said, looking quite offended by that statement. "And I was drunk," he added. "I don't even remember what the game was," he admitted, frowning as he tried to remember. "Besides, it's your fault. You're the one that wanted to see the geisha."

"And we were fine until you got involved in the game," Lily summed up. "They sure were pretty, weren't they?" he said a bit sadly.

"You're a cat. How do you know what's pretty? They all smelled funny and wore too much makeup." He frowned, remembering what he could of the night before. "That's probably how we lost the other half of the pay. Damned expensive ladies," he admitted.

"You're just sore because none of them were Levy."

"Of course they weren't Levy," Gajeel blustered. "Levy ain't a geisha." Although he was so bored that he could picture her as one. Wow... that was cute. He toyed with the image for a while, wondering why they didn't have cosplay nights at the guild. He swore it'd go over good. They had plenty of cosplay freaks, after all.

"Why don't we hijack a train?" Lily asked.

"Nah, the Guild Master'd kill us."

"We'll die long before he could kill us if we keep going this way."

Gajeel went silent as he thought it over. "Fine," he said. "But we won't hijack it. We'll just... hitch a ride."

"Yeah... so where is the train, anyway?"

The two kept walking. It was almost dark before they jerked, both hearing the distant whistle of a train. Without a thought they took off at a run, or in Lily's case, a flight. The train looked like a godsend, large and shiny in the soft pink light of the sunset. They didn't think as they raced for it, grabbing onto a ladder on the side and hauling themselves onto it.

"Wait..." Lily said as they climbed to the roof. "Aren't we going in the wrong direction?"

Gajeel looked up, then cursed and fell onto his back with a thump. "Dammit. We'll go with this until we get back to the train station, then switch over to one headed for Magnolia," he decided, closing his eyes.

"Alright," Lily said, dropping onto his back as well and letting his eyes close. This, he decided, this was the life.

* * *

"Excuse me," a nervous looking little man said, stepping in front of Levy's chair. She glanced up at him curiously, her book still held open in her lap. "You're a mage, right?"

"Hmm? Yes, yes I am," she said. "Is there a problem?"

"Well, we have a little problem," he said. "But you don't have to, if you don't want-"

"No, it's fine, if I can help I will!" she said, closing the door and putting it back into her bag. She swung it over her shoulder, following him as he left the rail car and entered the next one. It was a kitchen. She looked around blankly, wondering what, exactly was going on.

"Well, miss, you see, our chef swears she saw a demon man attack the train," the little man said, looking quite red in the face. He reached up and tugged at his collar, obviously uncomfortable with the situation. "She refuses to come back until we find him."

"A demon man?" she repeated. "But I didn't hear any attack. Was anyone hurt?" she asked.

"Well, she does tend to exaggerate," he admitted. "But it's true that there's a possibility of someone being on board that shouldn't be. You see, we had a certain number of plates prepared for dinner, but two of them suddenly turned up missing. Of course, we could blame that on someone on board, but no one was in that area other than the employees that fill the plates."

"I see," she said, feeling a bit adrift. Why had she come on this train? Oh, right, she had gotten a strange feeling that something had happened to Gajeel. Of course, she had grabbed a small job in the area before leaving, telling the rest of Shadow Gear that she just wanted to pick up some small cash for a new book, but still-

"You can find him, can't you?"

"I'll do my best!" she promised cheerfully. "But is 'demon man' the only description you can give me?"

"Well, she did say he had a flying beast from hell with him, she said it looked like a black cat with wings," he said. "Miss? Is there something wrong?"

"N-no, of course not," she said, feeling pale. "I'll do my best!" she promised him again, with less enthusiasm than before. "Now you probably have lots of work to do, don't you?"

"Oh, I feel so much better now that we have a mage looking into it," he said. "Thank you, thank you," he added with small bows as he left. She waved and faked a smile until he was gone.

"Gajeel Redfox, you get out here right now!" she demanded as soon as he was gone. She didn't even blink as an upside down head peeked through the door. "Just what do you think you're doing?" she demanded of him, her hands on her hips.

"Ah... hey, Levy," he said, flipping into the rail car. "We can explain."

"I blame it on the geisha," Lily said as he came in through an open window.

"Geisha?" she asked, her eyes huge as her image from the day before danced through her head. "What geisha?"

"It's a long story," Gajeel muttered, crossing his arms over his chest and pouting. "And it's his fault," he added, pointing at Lily.

"You didn't argue too loudly," Lily complained. "He barely talked to them, anyway," he added for Levy's benefit. "Well, until the card game, that was. And that's how we wound up here."

Levy frowned, secretly happy that nothing seemed to have happened. "Well we can't have it get out that Fairy Tail mages were terrorizing trains!" she told them. "So we're going to have to come up with an explanation."

"Well..." Lily said, frowning slightly. "Nobody's really seen us, right? Other than the cook?"

"That's true," she said.

"Then why don't we give them a real demon?" Lily said. "You still got that bottle?" he asked Gajeel.

"You mean from the mission?" Gajeel asked, swinging his bag off of his shoulder and opening it to dig through it. "Yeah, right here," he said, tossing the bottle to the cat.

"What is that?" Levy asked.

"Djinn," Gajeel said. "Little monster that likes to... play tricks on people. Was a pain in the ass to capture."

"That's why this mission took so long," Lily agreed.

"We are not unleashing a monster on a train just because you two hitched a ride!" Levy said, outraged.

"Well I sure as hell ain't covering up my mark," Gajeel said, sounding equally outraged. "Besides, all we did was hitch a ride!"

"You stole two dinner plates!"

"Huh?" Gajeel and Lily said, looking equally blank. Levy stared at them, trying to figure out if they were covering up something, but Gajeel didn't tend to be a good liar when it came to things like this. "All we took was some water," Lily said.

"Then someone... or something else stole them?" she said, frowning. "But that means there's more than just you that's on this train," she said slowly. "You go find whoever it is," she ordered them, poking Gajeel in the chest. She was angry with him, she decided. Him and his-his geisha!

"I think she's not happy with you," Lily pointed out.

"Hitching a ride was your idea," Gajeel muttered with a dark glare at his partner.

"I'm mad at both of you!" Levy declared, unknowingly pouting in an adorable manner. "Geisha!" she added. "I would have expected it from Jet and Droy!"

Gajeel and Lily looked at each other. "We'll go find the stowaways," Lily said, rather than reply to that statement. No matter what they said, it'd probably get them in trouble.

Gajeel looked at her for a moment before roughly rubbing the top of her head and disappearing through the window once again. Levy reached up, readjusting the headband he had messed up and sighing. That was probably as close to an apology as she was going to get, after all.

Not that-not that he owed her one, or anything, she added, flushing brightly, they were just friends and his free time was his own. It's just-well, she did feel better now, at least. And his outrage at the idea of covering up his mark made her happy. He really was proud of that mark, wasn't he?

"Now I've got to tell the conductor," she said. "And see about using this mission to pay for their board."


	2. Makeup Problems

Yay for chapter 2! Banzai! Banzai! Banzai! I love how people are making this one of their faves only after one chapter^^ Feeling a lot of love here, guys, thank you!

For Highlord: Sure, the other members of FT have done worse things, but A) they usually have a better reason than "I blew all my cash on sake and Geisha" and B) they aren't Gajeel. Gajeel's still being closely watched, and he knows it, so he's playing safer than the rest of the guild ever have, especially Natsu and his group.

* * *

**The Trouble With Geisha**

_Chapter 2: Makeup Problems_

They ran lightly over the roof of the train, keeping pace with one another as they searched for something that didn't appear to belong there. "You pissed her off," Lily said after a moment.

"She wasn't pissed," Gajeel protested.

"She was pissed," Lily corrected. "She was probably mad because we blew all our money on sake and women," he added. "Not to mention cards."

Gajeel grunted, now regretting the night before even more. It had been a total waste of cash. Then again, he thought logically, he did a lot of things that wound up being a total waste of cash. "It ain't like I slept with them," he said finally.

"Or like you and Levy actually have anything going on, right?" Lily added, twisting the knife he had just jabbed into Gajeel's soul. It wasn't even unknowingly, Gajeel thought with irritation as he saw the evil expression on Lily's face. The Exceed was out for blood just because, like Gajeel, he had a sadistic streak a mile wide.

"Jackass," Gajeel muttered. Lily laughed. Before the Exceed could say anything more, though, a familiar scent caught both of their noses, making them pull to a stop. "That's their makeup," Gajeel said a bit blankly.

"Yeah... but what are geisha doing in full costume on a train?" Lily asked his partner.

"Honored patrons," a soft, feminine voice said from behind them, "We have something to discuss with you."

"Better question," Gajeel said, not turning around just yet, "what are geisha in full costume doing on top of a train?"

* * *

"Well, a few things have happened," Levy said quietly to the conductor, "but before I tell you everything, we haven't settled on a price for this job, right? Well, I have a suggestion-" She was about to bring up the train tickets when someone or something fell off of the train roof and flashed past the window. She yelped as a hole was punched through the wall of the train and a metallic hand grabbed hold.

"What is going on?" the man asked in shock.

"Um, well, meet one of my partners," Levy said as a thump came from the wall. "That's Gajeel Redfox, Iron Dragon Slayer. He seems to have found the problem?"

"He looks like he IS the problem!" the man shouted as Gajeel looked through the hole he had punched through the train wall.

"Yo," he said.

Levy sighed, rolling her eyes as he clattered back to the roof of the train. "I can explain?" she offered to the bright red train conductor.

* * *

"Found Levy!" Gajeel said as he pulled himself up onto the roof again. "So try not to destroy this car," he told Lily. The Exceed was in full size, his blade held in both hands as two geisha circled him warily.

"She's fine?" Lily asked.

"Well, far as I could tell," Gajeel said, shaking his hand once to form a massive dagger. He held it up, aiming it at the geisha. "Iron Dragon Sp-"

And they were gone, disappearing as if they had never been there to begin with. He cursed, sniffing the air. There wasn't even a trace of the scent of makeup. "What the hell just happened?" Lily demanded.

"Do you think I know?" Gajeel asked, looking around. "There's no scent of them. Nothing!" He cursed the wind that was blowing over them, tugging at their clothes and pulling what little scent that remained away before he could catch it. "It's almost as if..." He scowled, not wanting to even think such a thing.

"An illusion," Lily said. "They had to have been an illusion."

"One of them knocked me off the train!" Gajeel snapped.

"Something did," Lily agreed. "But it didn't necessarily have to be them," he added. "Come on, let's go see if Levy's okay."

"I smelled the makeup!"

"Yeah, and that's the only thing we could smell," Lily said as they went down the ladder and dropped down on the platform behind the railway car that Levy was in. Not even thinking of their own status as stowaways they walked right in, both wearing identical scowls.

"You!" the tiny man standing next to Levy said, pointing at Gajeel. "You're the demon man!"

"Dragon man," Gajeel corrected him. "Whatever the hell was up there," he started out, scowling, "Looked a lot like the geisha from last night."

"Geisha?" Levy asked. She seemed to be asking that a lot, lately, Gajeel noted. That was probably his fault, he admitted with a hint of guilt.

"We think it was an illusion," Lily said, "which means there's a mage involved."

"Or a monster," Gajeel added, crossing his arms over his chest.

"But why would either of them use geisha?" Levy asked, looking at them blankly. Then her eyes narrowed, but she kept her smile firmly in place as she turned to the conductor. "We're definitely going to figure out what's going on here," she promised him. "Don't worry about it, Gajeel is one of the best mages in Fairy Tail!"

"Fairy Tail?" the conductor repeated. "You're from Fairy Tail?"

"Of course we are," Gajeel said.

"Oh dear, oh dear," the little man said, his face turning an unsightly color of white. "We're doomed." They watched him stumble off before Levy turned on the two of them.

"You have work to do," she told them almost pleasantly. "I'll see if any of the people on the ship accidentally brought something onboard that they shouldn't have. You go find those geisha again, and try to figure out who's creating them. I get the feeling you might know them," she added a bit darkly.

"All I know is that I'm swearin' off women in white face paint," Gajeel muttered irritably, "and cards."

"What, not sake, too?" Lily teased him.

"I'm not that repentant," Gajeel told him as they headed out the door again.

* * *

She was jealous. There was no denying the fact, Levy thought as she headed through the various cars, entering the passenger cars and stopping to look around. Half of the passengers were asleep. She would have to wake them up, person by person, and examine their belongings. It was going to be a pain in the neck, but it would take her mind off of Gajeel and his little geisha problem.

Or not, she thought as she woke yet another patron ten minutes later. It was reasonably easy to check them for magical devices with one of her solid script tricks. The words "Magic Detector" looked like a scanner that she could hold in her hand. It lit up when close to something magical. She had come up with the idea after digging through an entire bag of stinky cheese. Her hands still smelled funny from that one.

The image of Gajeel surrounded by white-faced beauties in beautiful kimonos was firmly etched into her mind. The one thing she had noticed, maybe even come to rely on, was the fact that Gajeel didn't seem to notice most females! He could walk through an entire guild full of beauties with ample curves and not even glance at them! Well, other than the barmaids, because he was usually there to eat before he got into a bar fight. In fact, the only females she could remember him talking to were her, Erza, Wendy, and Juvia! One was a friend of Lily's, one was a little girl, and the other was an old nakama of his!

But geisha? She almost jumped out of her skin as the magical detector went off. For a moment she stared blankly at the bag she was holding it over before looking up at the little boy who was holding it. "Can I see what's in your bag?" she asked him.

He nodded slowly, his eyes huge as he let her take the bag. She pulled it open, then sighed, pulling out the wooden statue he had there. "Are you training to be a creation mage?" she asked him with a fond smile as she handed it back.

He nodded, grabbing the statue from her and hugging it to his chest. She handed over the bag, as well, and went back to scanning the luggage. Her mind went right back to the Gajeel problem. She was jealous, she admitted again, feeling ashamed. There was no way she could measure up to the graceful, beautiful women well-versed in the ways of seduction. All she was well-versed in was old, dusty books and languages that were long dead. She had never properly worn a kimono in her life, her hair would never handle being in an intricate knot like the ones the geisha wore so gracefully. It wasn't even the right color!

Oh, she could go on for hours about how she would never live up to them. Just obsessing over it wasn't getting anything done other than working her up. Maybe that was why Gajeel never looked at the females in the guild, maybe it had nothing to do with her. Maybe her stupid crush was just that, a stupid crush. He was out for classier, more experienced (okay, so any female other than Lu-chan was probably more experienced than her, but still!) female.

Who would have thought, she went on, really getting into the rant, who would have thought that she would find herself in this position? A one-sided love? Life was so unfair! She headed for the door, finished with the luggage in this passenger car. The cold air on the platform was a welcome relief since she had gotten herself so heated up.

"We haven't found anything."

Levy looked up. Lily was sitting on the roof of the rail car in front of her, his feet dangling over the edge. "Nothing?" she asked.

"Gajeel's still looking," the Exceed said. "He's feeling guilty," he added with amusement. He clearly enjoyed that fact.

"Guilty?" she repeated, trying to play innocent. "Why should he feel guilty?"

"It really wasn't his idea, though," Lily said. "They reminded me of... someone," he added, looking away.

"Really?" she asked. "Is it someone I know?"

"No," he said. "Just someone I once knew. But I have a new life now, and so does she," he added as he stood. "I like to think we're both happy with what we've got."

"Was she-is she very classy?" Levy asked, earning a bittersweet smile.

"The classiest," he agreed. "But Gajeel didn't seem all that impressed by that sort of class," he added. "Personally I think he likes cute better." He took off before she could say anything, or think of anything to say, for that matter. Slowly a smile pulled at her lips, spreading across her face until she was grinning like an idiot. Those were the words she had wanted to hear.

With a lighter heart she crossed to the next platform, sliding the door open. Hesitantly she looked into the darkened car, taking a step inside.

"Just what we needed," a soft, feminine voice whispered right next to her ear before Levy fell forward into unconsciousness.


	3. MindBlowing Eyes

Welcome to chapter 3, everybody! This one actually made me want to write a Lily/Shagotte scene for Me and My Cat, but I got totally sidetracked by a webcomic called "The Pirate Balthasar," look it up, guys, it's absolutely fantastic! As usual, love you guys, bless you, all those good, happy thoughts and prayers, and I hope you're enjoying the story!

* * *

**The Trouble With Geisha**

_Chapter 3: Mind-Blowing Eyes_

"What'd you tell her?" Gajeel demanded as Lily caught up to him. "And don't lie, I know you went back there to talk to her."

"You mean Levy?" Lily asked.

"Is there anyone else on this damn train?"

"Tons of people. You can smell them as well as I can, maybe better," Lily said, enjoying this tormenting game. "I told her we hadn't found anything. She didn't seem to have found anything, either."

"That all you told her?" Gajeel asked suspiciously, turning back in the direction that Lily had come from. Something was bothering him all of a sudden, a hint of a scent in the air, a tiny whisper of a sound, and he wasn't one to ignore those things.

"What else did you want me to tell her?" Lily asked as he followed him.

"How about-" Gajeel said something dark and filled with self disgust. "Forget it. It's no business of hers, anyway," he added darkly.

"I told her they reminded me of someone," Lily said, much to Gajeel's relief. 'Not who, or anything, she's never met the Queen. But she seemed happier when she realized what it was about."

"Bet the Queen'd be pissed if you told her a bunch of geisha reminded you of her," Gajeel said, obviously in a much better mood now.

"A pale imitation," Lily agreed. He stopped on top of the next rail car, the fur on the back of his neck standing. "Something's in here," he told his partner. "Why didn't we notice it before?"

"I don't know, but we're damn well going to find out," Gajeel said, dropping down on the platform and kicking the door in. The room was completely black, a special sleeping car that only strange people bought, or had the money for, but he smelled something that made rage rush through his entire body.

Levy's blood.

His fist shot out, slamming through the darkened window next to him to let in the light. It poured in, spilling over the blue haired mage tied to a chair in the middle of the empty rail car. "Where are you?" he demanded, looking for whoever, or whatever it was that had done that to his Levy. "Show yourself!"

"This is your fault, honored patron," someone whispered. The voice came from all around him, a little, evil laugh following. "You shouldn't have taken one of our sisters."

"Well, shit," he muttered. "More djinn."

"How did they find us?" Lily asked as Gajeel crossed the room, turning one of his fingers into a dagger to cut through the rope that bound Levy. She fell forward into his waiting arms, still unconscious.

"Come out!" Gajeel snarled, gently pulling the solid script mage up and pressing her head against his chest.

"If you don't want others to go through this, we suggest you give our sister back," the voice said.

"You're dead," he said. "I'm going to kill you all." His eyes narrowed as a geisha flashed into existence right in front of him.

"You-"

"The right!" Gajeel barked. Lily raced past him, pouncing on a tiny spot of blackness in the corner. It was the size of a mouse, but shaped roughly like a human, and it smelled like the makeup that the geisha had worn the night before.

"Got it," Lily said, holding up the tiny monster. It squirmed in his grip so his claws dug into it, making it scream. "We need a bottle."

"Not if we slice the bastard into tiny slivers," Gajeel said viciously, his fingers sliding through the wild blue hair that he loved so much, searching for the bump. He felt it a second later, along with the hot sticky blood that came from the hit upside the back of the head. Feeling stupid, he pulled her into a princess hold. "There's a chance there's more than just this one," he told his partner. "Leave that one alive long enough to use it as bait."

"Then we'll need a bottle," Lily said. "Let's go back to the kitchen." Gajeel nodded, glancing down at Levy for a second before taking off for the kitchen.

"But what about the two plates?" Lily asked. "Just one plate would be enough to feed three of these guys."

"Then maybe there's more than three of them here," Gajeel said, cursing as they landed on the platform of the kitchen car. He slid the door open and walked in, heading for the bench against the wall. Gently he laid Levy down, his fingers brushing the hair out of her face. "Why the hell did I have to be the Iron Dragon Slayer?" he muttered. "Or better yet, where the hell is the little girlie when you need her?"

Lily headed for the fridge to get the bottle and an ice pack, not saying a word.

* * *

The deep rumbling voice was something you felt more than heard. It woke Levy up, even though she didn't want to. Her head hurt too much to want to be awake for it. "There're those mind-blowing eyes," Gajeel said in a tone she had never heard coming from him before. "You alright?"

"My head," she whispered.

"I know," he said. "You took a hit from behind."

"It hurts," she said, her bottom lip trembling.

"I know," he said, gently pressing a cold pack to her head. "We caught the one that did it."

"You did? Was it the stowaway?"

"In a way," he said, frowning. "We have a little... lingering problem from our last mission. That djinn seemed to have some friends. They're here, trying to get it back."

"So you mean this is your fault?" she asked.

"I'm sorry," he muttered, looking frustrated. "Little bastard had nakama. Who knew? But we're going to get them all, so don't worry."

"And the geisha?"

"I'm seriously starting to hate those things," he told her, making a face. "There goes my cosplay night idea," he added more to himself than to her.

"Cos-cosplay night?" she repeated, her eyes widening. "I-I like it!"

"Just no geisha," he said firmly. "Borrow Bunny Girl's cheerleading outfit, instead."

"Oh, I've got one of my own," she said, only to wince as she accidentally moved her head. He muttered something dark, but his hands were gentle as he moved the ice pack into place.

"Careful, idiot, you got hit pretty hard." Jet and Droy never talked to her like that, she thought a bit blurrily. Jet and Droy never admonished her in a gruff voice while gently doing what needed to be done. Of course, they eventually did what needed to be done, but they would coo and rant and rave and fight over who did what for a long moment before actually doing it. Or, even more usually, they were knocked out long before she was.

Now she was being disloyal, she thought, irritated with herself. Jet and Droy were the best team she would ever have. Except...

"What are you thinking?" Gajeel demanded softly.

"You and Lily," she said. "You're a good team to be on."

"Not good enough," he growled. "If we were, you wouldn't be hurt."

"I found out how many of them there are," Lily said from behind Gajeel. "There's four more. But I figure we could set a trap using the two we already have."

"We can't leave Levy alone," Gajeel said. "They'll try and use her as bait again."

"I can help," Levy said, trying to sit up.

"Stupid, you can't move like this," Gajeel said, pushing her back down.

"You do it all the time," she told him.

"Yeah, but I got a harder head than you do. Look, this is our fault, not yours. We should be the one taking care of it. Last thing I wanna do is drag you further into this."

She pouted up at him, crossing her arms over her chest. "I want to help," she told him. "I'm the one that said I'd take on this job."

"There's one easy way to finish it," Lily said. "For the train, that is. We could just take the two we've caught and leave. We're close enough to the town that we can walk back. And they'd have less places to hide out on that desert. Especially during the day."

"But it's not day yet," Gajeel said. "We've still got a few hours left before morning."

"How do they work?" Levy asked. "I mean, you should know, right?"

"They're illusionists. They can project things that look as real as you or me, then they hide in the shadows, hitting you from behind or the side and making you think it's the illusion doing it. Little suckers are so small that they're hard to smell," Gajeel said in disgust. "Once they figured out that I can, they started masking their scent with that makeup the geisha were wearing. That's why they look like them."

"It makes us sneeze," Lily explained.

"It's so overwhelming that you can't pinpoint where it comes from for a few moments," Gajeel added with a look of disgust. "And until the little bastards forget to keep moving for a bit, I can't find'em."

"Then you need my help!" Levy said, sitting up. "I'm already feeling better," she swore, although her head was killing her. "I heal fast!"

"Sure you don't," he drawled. "Don't think I didn't notice you not being in the entire fight against Phantom. No, you're staying right here."

"Well you can't stay on guard all night, you need to capture the other four monsters, right?" she said. "Why don't I put up a wall? One that magic can't come through?"

"Like a ward?"

"It's solid script magic!"

"Whatever. Try it," he said, standing and taking a step back. A few seconds later the words "Magic Repellent" appeared as a wall made of metal. He turned one finger into iron, poking it for a few seconds before nodding. "Fine. But don't let it down, got it?"

"I get it, I get it," she said in an irritated tone. "Now get going already!"

He hesitated, though, lingering on the other side of the wall as he thought about something. "Y'know," he said after a moment. "You really are amazing."

Then he was gone, leaving her to sit and blush all on her own. That "amazing" and the earlier comment of "mind-blowing eyes" were dancing in her head, teasing her shamelessly about the serious crush that she had on the Iron Dragon. It was frustrating, not to mention distracting. She picked up the ice pack that had fallen onto the bench, pressing it against the back of her head as her mind started racing.

Chasing the little monsters around would take too long... but what if she could somehow make them come to her? She pulled out her magical pen and started brainstorming on the air in front of her. If she could pull this off, maybe Gajeel would compliment her even more! Or at least the train conductor might let all the new holes in the train go unmentioned, she thought with a hint of cynicism. Either would be good!


	4. Playing Dirty

Guys, it's been a rough week for me, sorry. My granddad died last night, and we thank God we know he's in heaven now, but it's still really hard on the family. Sorry about the sporadic updates and such, but thankfully the story itself is finished, it's just a matter of getting the time to revise and post, and all that. And hey, he did make it to 87! I'd say that's an accomplishment in and of itself.

* * *

**The Trouble With Geisha**

_Chapter 4: Playing Dirty_

"She's not going to stay in there, you know," Lily said as they started out over the train's roof again. He was fighting a tiny bit of jealousy, which he knew was ridiculous. He liked Levy just fine, hell, he could think of way worse people for his partner to have a thing for. In fact, he fully supported Gajeel's crush on her. But he was supposed to be the "amazing" one, dammit!

Clearly hanging around their guild had made him more immature, he thought darkly. Getting jealous over a word was downright silly. And besides, she was amazing. That wall had been pretty cool, but the most amazing thing about her was how she had gotten over her fear of Gajeel without lingering hatred or bitterness. In fact, he was almost positive she liked his partner.

"Oye," Gajeel said. "You just ignored me."

"Sure I didn't," Lily said, lying.

"Sure you did. What did I just say?"

"Probably something about her being smart enough to stay put," Lily said.

"Probably? You just admitted you weren't paying attention!"

"You're right, you're right. But that was smart of you to pick up on it!"

"Jackass."

Lily laughed. Then he jerked to a halt, turning around. A familiar smell was hinted at, not even stolen by the wind that rushed over them. Behind them stood Levy. "What are you doing up here, idiot?" Gajeel demanded. "I told you to stay put!"

"I know how we can stop this," Levy said. "We just need to give them their sisters back, right? Then they'll leave."

"Sisters?" Gajeel repeated. "When did you-"

Lily grew to his full size, barely blocking the metal pole that came slamming down towards Gajeel's head from behind. He tugged it free, but there was no one holding it. The djinn had already run. "She's a fake!"

"I'm not a fake!" Levy said. "You've got to believe me, Gajeel!" Her big brown eyes gleamed with tears.

"That's playing dirty," Gajeel snarled.

"You're right," Levy said, her tone changing. "But you actually notice this one. I don't know why, she's just a tiny little thing. Not nearly as beautiful as the Geisha were."

"We were quite fond of the Geisha," another said, the voice coming from nowhere in particular. "But they didn't work on you. This form does, doesn't it? You'll listen to us now. Give us back our sisters and we'll leave, peacefully."

"You were luring people into a hole, promising them three wishes if they followed you," Gajeel said through gritted teeth. "They were only women and children. You butchered them. There's no way in hell I'm giving you back anything, no matter who your illusion looks like."

"We didn't want to resort to this," the illusion of Levy said, "but we will kill this one if you don't agree to our demands."

"Try it and we'll hunt down every single one of you in existence," Lily snarled. "We'll bottle them up and hang them from the ceiling of our guild, taking them out one by one to torture to death." Gajeel glanced over at him with that one, a strange cross of surprise and sadistic amusement on his face.

"While the others watch," Gajeel agreed, his right arm shifting into a massive dagger. He stopped when he heard Levy's voice from below.

"Gajeel! Lily! I've figured it out!"

"Levy! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Come back, I need your help for this!" she called. Lily and Gajeel looked at each other, then at the empty space around them before shrugging and heading back to the kitchen car.

"How do you know she's not another illusion?" the illusion of Levy asked as they started past her. They didn't reply.

"Oye, this better be good," Gajeel said as he headed for the wall that still stood there. She had to have yelled out the window. He was quite satisfied that she hadn't brought down the wall, instead.

"I figured out the easiest way to capture them all in one go," Levy said from behind the wall. He could hear the rustling of paper, smell the faint trace of pain that still lingered on her, and practically feel her excitement. She was quite proud of whatever it was she had come up with. "What were you doing, anyway?" she asked curiously.

"They found a better illusion," Gajeel muttered, feeling like an idiot.

"A better illusion?" she asked as she let the wall disappear. "You mean, something that worked on you? It couldn't have been Lily... and they've never met Natsu-"

"Salamander wouldn't work, anyway," Gajeel muttered. "I'd have enjoyed hitting that one."

"Then what was it?" she asked curiously, sensing something interesting that he wasn't telling her about.

"Nothing important," he blustered, looking away. "We're getting off subject! What is it we gotta do?"

"You've got to be bait," she told him, pulling out a pile of papers. "But first you have to be a distraction," she told him as she stood.

"Oye, wait a-"

"You can't do this," she told him firmly. "You have no idea how to activate these, and it'd be a waste of time if you didn't. I need you to lure them as far away from the empty rail car as you can. That'll give me time to set up."

"But they're looking for you!" he snapped, losing his temper.

"No they aren't. They're looking for their nakama," she said. "So take the two bottles with you and keep them where they can see them. That should keep them occupied for a bit. Long enough for me to put down these," she added in an almost bragging tone. "This is going to go perfectly," she swore.

"You sure?" Gajeel asked skeptically.

"I'm absolutely positive. This is what I do, after all," she told him, looking straight into his eyes.

He didn't like it. He knew she knew he didn't like it, but he grunted and gave her an intimidating glower. "You better be right," he told her before grabbing his bag and pulling out the two bottles. He tossed one to Lily. "Let's go."

"Got it," Lily said.

* * *

"I demand to know what is going on!" the conductor said as he stormed into the empty rail car. "Young lady, I don't remember stomping around on the roof or blowing out windows being part of this job!"

"Don't come any closer!" Levy said, holding up a hand to stop him from coming in further. "I'm laying out a very important trap."

"A trap? You're going to catch the problem?" he asked, his anger subsiding.

"Absolutely," she said as she laid another of her sheets on the floor, writing a quick rune over it. The paper disappeared, the spot where it had been glowing for a brief second before that disappeared, as well.

"And the window?"

"For that, passage for my partners, and whatever damage we've accumulated, we're willing to call this job even," she told him.

"Well, he's a dragon of some sort?"

"An Iron Dragon Slayer. His help doesn't come cheaply!" she informed him.

"I-I'll consider it," he said, backing carefully out of the car. "But try not to break anything more!"

"We'll do our best!" she said as he left. Her head was killing her, but she gritted her teeth against it and kept working. She had to get this done as quickly as possible. Who knew when Gajeel would come?

* * *

Gajeel blinked as the word "ready" floated in front of him, carried by little wings. With a shrug he let his Iron Dragon Lance disappear and pulled the bottle out of his pocket. "You really want this back?" he asked the djinn he had been fighting with, or at least the Geisha illusions. "Come and get it."

"Nice little love note," Lily said, appearing at his side as they raced for the empty rail car. "Bet you were happy to see that."

"Not really," Gajeel blustered. "Keep moving, we don't wanna keep her waiting."

"Where are you taking us, honored patron?"

"Is there a reason we must go when you have our sisters with you?"

Gajeel ignored them, dropping down onto the platform that led into Levy's trap rail car. He waited until the Geisha illusions came into view before he and Lily went inside. Levy was in the corner, her magical pen held loosely between her fingers. "Stand in the middle there," she told them before bringing up her "Magic Repellant" wall in front of her.

"Give us our sisters!" the Geisha screamed as they came into the rail car. Gajeel and Lily had barely managed to get to the middle of the room before hands made of words came out of the floor, wrapping around the small monsters hiding in the shadows of their illusions.

"Djinnpaper," Levy said as the Geisha disappeared. "It's like flypaper!"

The four squirming monsters were plastered to pieces of paper that Gajeel had sworn weren't there before. For a long moment he just stared at them, feeling that this was definitely an anticlimactic ending. But Levy looked so proud of herself that he couldn't quite say anything except, "Cool."

"We probably would have been chasing them all night," Lily added, glancing over at Gajeel as if knowing what he was thinking. Gajeel sighed, because the Exceed was absolutely right. But still, it would have been more... dramatic than getting them stuck to sticky paper. "And never have caught them all," Lily added.

"He's right," Gajeel admitted. "It took almost a week to catch the first one."

"Seriously?" Levy asked, trying not to laugh.

"We didn't know what it was at first," Gajeel said defensively. "Let's get these bottled and get some sleep. It's been a long day."

"Um, did you guys break anything else?" Levy asked.

"Nope, not really," Gajeel said.

"Oh thank goodness. We probably would have gotten tossed off if you had."


	5. Timing

Okay! A few notes, I actually ended the real story in this post, but I've got two more omakes that relate to it for a bonus chapter, if you guys are interested. And this is where I'm going to take a poll, as well. I have this story I'm working on. It has an OC. Yes, horror, boo, hiss, hiss. How could you do that to us, Ice? But listen for a moment and you might find it interesting. The girl is ten years old with a power that terrifies her. She can't control it, and because of it certain... horrible things have happened in the past. She is NOT out to make Gajeel love her, nor Natsu, nor any of the other main characters except perhaps for Levy (no, she's not yuri, she's ten. She wants a mother/big sister figure.) There's plenty of Gajeel/Levy moments and hints, Lily spends time with Shagotte (in a less than romantic way, sorry) and Charle complains a lot. I might even toss in a psychopathic Raven Tail character, because Ivan doesn't do his own dirty work. (I haven't decided yet.)

Would anyone be willing to read it? Post in your review if you think it sounds interesting!

And, thanks guys, seriously, for your well wishes. I really needed them. You guys are seriously awesome!

* * *

**The Trouble With Geisha**

_Chapter 5: Timing_

Gajeel couldn't sleep. He sat there across from the sleeping bookworm, frowning. "She doesn't have a concussion," Lily told him, as awake as his partner. "We checked. We've caught all the djinn, too."

"She shouldn'ta gotten dragged into it," Gajeel said irritably. "What's she doing all the way out here, anyway? And where are those two jackasses that follow her around all the time?"

"She probably didn't think she needed them," Lily said.

Gajeel scowled, glowering down at the little idiot that slept so soundly across from them. "She said she had a mission, right? Well we might as well stick around. Besides, we need to make some cash to get home."

"Not in such a big hurry to go, now?" Lily said.

"Not when she's going to be stuck out here without backup."

"Or maybe now that she's here, you've got less reason to go back?"

"You tryin' to say somethin?" Gajeel demanded.

"Not a thing." Lily smirked slightly and leaned back in his chair, letting his eyes drift close. "Get some sleep, we've only got a few hours before dawn."

Gajeel lay back as well, trying to get comfortable. After a long moment he gave up, grabbing Lily in a hug and laying out over the two chairs. This time he fell asleep straight away.

* * *

"You need to wake up now," Levy said. Gajeel's eyes opened and he looked at her blankly for a long moment before relaxing. "We're here."

"You get any sleep?" he asked her roughly, yawning as he got to his feet. Lily let out a yawn as well, climbing out of his arms to grab his stuff.

"Enough, I guess," Levy said, turning to grab her own things. "I mean, we didn't have much time for sleep, so of course none of us got any. But I need to get to my mission and you two need to find a train for Magnolia."

"We'll help," Gajeel said.

"Really?"

"We're here already, right?"

"But-" she stopped, a strange expression on her face. "Well, if you really want to. We might get enough money for all three of us to go home from this one, and it's not really dangerous or anything..."

"We can find something to do," Lily said.

"Okay," she said as they started to get off the train.

"So what's your mission, anyway?" Gajeel asked.

"Um, interpretation," Levy said a bit nervously.

"Interpretation?"

"Of a book. It's supposed to be an ancient book between a woman and her lover, but the owners don't know for sure who that lover was. They think it might have been a king."

"Yeah? Who are the owners?" Gajeel asked, looking around.

"The... local Geisha?" Levy offered as the scent hit Gajeel's nose. His right eye twitched as a Geisha stepped through the crowd, followed by a servant holding a parasol for her.

"I trust that you are Levy McGarden-san?" the Geisha asked politely. "It is an honor to meet you." Then she looked at Gajeel. "And to see you again, Redfox-san," she added with a tiny touch of wickedness.

"Great," Gajeel muttered. "That's the trouble with Geisha, ain't it? They seemed to show up at the worst possible time."

Lily looked away, choking on a laugh as Levy shot him a dirty look. "What?" he asked, only to be ignored as Levy bowed slightly to the Geisha.

"Thank you for inviting me," Levy said. "I look forward to seeing this book of yours."

"I was just saying-" Gajeel muttered, moving so he was next to her.

"So this is the 'bookworm' you mentioned the night before last? You were quite right in calling her adorable, Redfox-san," the Geisha went on, clearly enjoying this situation far more than Gajeel was.

"A-Adorable?" Levy asked, blushing brightly.

"I was drunk!" Gajeel injected.

"I do believe he broke a few hearts when he started speaking of you, my dear," the Geisha added as she started off, arm in arm with Levy. "Of course they were scared of him at first, but he does grow on you after a moment, don't you agree?"

"Maybe we should have walked, after all," Gajeel muttered as he and Lily followed the females. "I'm never going to live this down."

The only thing that kept him from turning around was how Levy looked over her shoulder, a shy little smile on her lips. At least, he thought with an inward sigh, she looked happy. That was good enough for him.

"It was such fun meeting a man that was more interested in playing games than 'getting to know us better,'" the Geisha went on. "He's quite innocent, when it comes down to-"

"AHEM!" Gajeel growled, irritated with where the conversation was heading. It didn't help when Levy let out a happy little giggle. He really, really was never going to live this one down, he thought despondently. Ever.

He really, really hated Geisha.

* * *

It was funny, but Levy would never tell him, how Gajeel kept to her side whenever he was in the Okiya. Lily seemed much more comfortable surrounded by the beauties and was often found enjoying a drink with them, or telling them stories about Edolas. But Gajeel-she glanced down at the man lounging against the bookcase beside her, one leg sprawled out, the other bent at the knee. He had a strange book in his hands which he kept turning in various directions as if he didn't understand it.

"What are you looking at?" Levy asked.

"They called it a... pillow book?" he said, turning the book over completely without noticing how bright red she grew.

"You don't need to look at that!" she told him, trying to grab the book from him. He kept it out of her reach, still looking at the pictures.

"Why not? It's the only book in here that comes with pictures," he said. She let out a yelp as she reached too far to grab the book, landing on his lap. He smirked down at her, closing the book and setting it aside.

"Ga-Gajeel?"

"I like this a lot better," he told her, nudging her chin up with a knuckle. "All these Geisha girls, they're scary."

"But-but I just tripped," she said with an unknowing pout.

"I know," he said. "It was funny."

"Gajeel! That's mean!"

"Ah," he agreed before leaning down to kiss her.

Lily stopped as he saw the two making out on the floor of the library and shrugged, turning to leave again. He would just tell the girls that Gajeel and Levy would take their meal later, he decided. It was the least he could do after dragging Gajeel into this place in the first place.

"Lily-san, are you coming?" a sweet voice called.

They weren't the Queen, he thought as he started back to the rest of the group, but they were a hell of a lot of fun to hang out with!

* * *

**OMAKE**

"So?" Lucy asked, dropping down next to Levy, "How'd it go? You took that interpretation mission, right? Was the book as steamy as it looked like it would be?"

Levy's face turned bright red and she mumbled something as she buried her face in the book she was reading. "Oooh, that good, huh?" Lucy teased. "Oh, I wish I could have read it! Just imagine how dramatic a love story a geisha would write would be! And what about their library?" she asked. "Was it as interesting as I bet it was?"

"Uh-uh huh?" Levy said, sinking into her book so far that her nose threatened to touch the spine.

"You know, the only reason I didn't try for that job was because Natsu would have made a complete hash of it," Lucy went on, completely unaware of what Levy was thinking. "But you left Jet and Droy here, right? So I bet you didn't have any problems at all! Did you happen to make a spare copy of the story?"

"No?"

"Too bad," Lucy said. "You know, I heard that Gajeel and Lily came back a week later than they were expected... I wonder what they were doing. Probably nothing good."

"Lu-chan!" Levy said abruptly.

"Huh?"

"I think we should have a cosplay day for the guild! Don't you think it'd be fun? And I know the perfect outfits for it, too!"

"You mean-that'd be awesome! I bet Juvia and Erza would help!" Lucy said, completely distracted, just as Levy hoped she would be.

*The Day After*

"We're gonna haveta get another job," Gajeel said, stopping only for a second to glance at the sign outside the door. "Cosplay night tonight?" he read, snorting as he realized who the brains behind that had to be.

"Levy told you she liked the idea-" Lily said, only to stop as they walked in and stare blankly. Gajeel choked at the sight of all the females in the guild wearing white face paint.

"Gajeel!" Levy called, waving a fan at him. "Don't you like our outfits?"

Gajeel turned on his heel and walked away.

"Well, that was rude," Lucy said as she sidled up to her best friend. She glanced down in shock as the bookworm burst into laughter, looking very satisfied with herself, indeed. "Levy-chan? Levy-chan, what's so funny?"

The only answer she got was more laughter.


	6. Omake!

And here are two cute little Omake that I wrote cuz they got stuck in my head. Now the fic is finished! Hope you enjoy it!

Also... Y'know how I was right about a few things in the comic? Like how Charle would take Lily? And about how Gajeel and Levy would get the quiet route, although I didn't mention that in my headers, well, I got a bad feeling about 210. I'm hoping I'm wrong, honestly, but I'm going to put off writing one shots until after I see what happens. Sorry guys. And any prayers, well wishes, whatever you wanna send my way tomorrow (or today, if you're reading this on Tuesday) would be highly appreciated. It's gonna be a very, very long day. Thanks in advance^^

* * *

**The Trouble With Geisha**

_Chapter: Omake!_

**Three Wishes**

"So you got it?" Makarov asked, sitting behind his desk for once. Gajeel nodded, glancing at the open office door.

"Sure we should be talkin' bout this with the door opened?"

"It's fine, it's fine, no one's around," Makarov said. Gajeel shrugged it off and pulled a bottle out of his bag, placing it on the desk. Then he pulled out another, and another, until six bottles were lined up on the desk.

"We shoulda destroyed them," Gajeel said.

"We can, but we might have some problems with the council. But why so many bottles?"

"There's six of them."

"I can count."

"Seriously, there's six djinn monsters," Gajeel repeated. "We had a bit of a problem after the-"

"You've got genies?" Natsu asked, poking his head in the door. "I want one! Whoa, six of'em!"

"You can't have 'em, idiot," Gajeel said.

"Did someone say a genie?" Lucy asked. "I know exactly what I'll wish for! My rent, those cute little shoes in that one shop downtown, then-"

"I've always been fascinated with genies," Erza said, peeking over Lucy's head.

Wendy peeked around the other mages, not saying a word but looking at the bottles with big eyes. Gajeel cursed. "I told you we shoulda closed the door! Nobody can have the djinn monsters! They're freakin' monsters! Besides, I'm the one that caught-"

"Actually, Levy caught four of them," Lily said, strolling through legs as if he had a red carpet. He was almost stampeded by people racing to find Levy.

"You idiot, now Levy'll-"

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" The bellow made the walls shake and Gajeel blink in surprise. He hadn't expected that strong of a reaction from the blue-haired mage.

He liked it.

* * *

**Heavy Metal**

Somehow Levy was starting to have mixed feelings about libraries. At least she did whenever Gajeel was in town. "Oye," he said right next to her ear. Her face turned bright red and she glanced both ways before looking up at him. "You spend too much time in this place."

"I'm-I'm a little busy right now, Gajeel," she said. "I've got a job coming up that I need to do some research on-"

"Want some help?" he asked. "I can go get the books, right?"

She chewed on her bottom lip, contemplating his offer, then flushed even more brightly as his eyes went straight to her mouth. "You have to tell me something before I show you where the books are!" she decided.

"Yeah?"

"Why didn't you tell me that the Djinn monsters were man eaters?"

"Oh, that," he said. "Didn't think of it."

"Sure you didn't," she drawled. "As punishment you have to carry all the books I tell you to, understand?" He grunted and followed as she stood and headed for the books she needed. Before she could point out which ones she wanted (plus a few more, just to torture him) he had her backed up against the bookshelf.

"I wouldn'ta let them eat you," he told her, leaning closer so his forehead was against hers. "You know that."

"I know, but still! I like having all of the information!" She pouted up at him adorably, only to get her bottom lip nipped. That was what she got for sticking her bottom lip out, she thought in amusement as she kissed him back.

"I swear I told Levy that I would come with her," she heard Lucy say. Her eyes widened and she tried to push the iron dragon away. He made a rumbling sound in the back of his throat before pulling away.

"What?" he muttered.

"I haven't told Lu-chan yet!" she hissed.

He sighed and rolled his eyes, kissing her quickly before he disappeared over the bookshelf. "There you are!" Lucy said, heading for her. "You look a bit red, are you feeling okay?"

"Um, well," Levy said, looking up at the bookcase curiously. He really was good at disappearing, wasn't he? "Lu-chan, what would you say if I told you I like-"

"Like?"

"Like, um... like..." Her face was so hot she swore she could cook an egg on her forehead. Her eyes widened as she saw Gajeel peer over at her from above the bookshelf. He looked quite interested in the scene playing out. She abruptly turned her back on him, feeling like an idiot. "Heavy metal?"

"Really?" Lucy asked a bit blankly.

"It's weird, isn't it?" Levy asked her. "I mean, it's kind of loud and hard to get used to!"

"Yeah, but if you like it, you like it," Lucy said. "I'm more interested in love ballads, myself, but to each their own!"

"Oh, thank you!" Levy said, hugging her best friend. "I love you, Lucy!" she exclaimed.

"Um, thanks?" Lucy said a bit confusedly.

"Then you're okay with me dating Gajeel!" Levy said happily.

"Wh-what?" Lucy said as Levy raced away. "What just happened? Seriously? Isn't heavy metal a type of music? I don't speak code, you know!"

She was tossed out of the library a few seconds later for being too loud.


End file.
